The innerworkings of step eleven

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace--
That where there is hatred, I may bring love--
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness--
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony--
That where there is error, I may bring truth--
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith--
That where there is despair, I may bring hope--
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted--
To understand, than to be understood--
To love than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.
Amen.

Every once in awhile I'm sorely reminded of what it is that I'm working on.

It's not that I'm unfamiliar with that 11th step prayer or the inner workings of 'brotherly love'.
I've learned a whole lot. When I look back to where I was--even I'm amazed at where I am, today.

I'm also clear that I'm not done--I've not arrived. I'm still journeying.

And someone's gonna help me be 'unmad' at Mel Gibson.
Cuz stupider things have come outta my mouth..............

It's a human quality to look for love before giving it.
Thus many of us search intently for signs of love.

Too many of us are searching, rather than loving. Truly loving another means letting go of all expectations. It means full acceptance, even celebration of another's personhood. Not easy, but so rewarding, to ourselves as well as to the one who is the focus of our love.

Darn reading fairies take all the joy out of nurturing and watering and making some unloving thoughts grow!
Hmmmmmmmmmph!